## Facts

- Maria Luisa Rodriguez Tornes, a native and citizen of Mexico, sought asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT).
- She testified to lifelong gender-based abuse tied to demands that she submit to male authority, beginning in childhood through family teachings and violence intended to condition her to accept spousal abuse.
- Rodriguez developed and expressed a belief that women and men should be equal “in opinions” and “in worth,” pursued work as a teacher, and resisted attempts to force her into a subordinate role.
- Her husband abused her physically and psychologically, including burning her with cigarettes and assaulting her after she asserted autonomy (e.g., refusing to cook on demand and refusing to quit her job), accompanied by statements that she had no right to work and must obey because he was “the man.”
- After that relationship, a later partner also beat, burned, strangled, and raped her, repeatedly asserting she was his “property” and not entitled to her own opinions.
- She did not report abuse to police because she believed seeking protection would be futile, based on experiences in which law enforcement treated domestic abuse complaints as private matters and instructed women to return to their “duties.”
- She fled to the United States, was deported in 2017, and returned because she feared harm in Mexico.
- The Immigration Judge credited her testimony and granted asylum (and, alternatively, withholding and CAT), finding her feminist political opinion was a central reason for the persecution and that government protection was unlikely.
- The Board of Immigration Appeals reversed asylum and withholding for lack of nexus to a protected ground but left CAT protection in place.

## Issues

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the BIA’s finding that Rodriguez’s persecution lacked a nexus to a protected ground, specifically her feminist political opinion.
2. Whether intervening agency precedent required remand to reconsider the nexus requirement for asylum.
3. If nexus was compelled, whether remand should be limited to discretionary asylum rather than reopening eligibility determinations.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit granted the petition for review.
- The court held that Rodriguez established a feminist political opinion and that feminism can qualify as a “political opinion” for asylum and withholding purposes.
- The court held the record compelled the conclusion that her feminist political opinion was at least “one central reason” for her persecution; the BIA’s contrary nexus finding lacked substantial evidence.
- The court denied the government’s request to remand for reconsideration of nexus under intervening agency precedent, concluding it did not materially change the governing nexus standard in the circuit.
- The court remanded only for the Attorney General to decide whether to grant asylum as a matter of discretion and directed that, if asylum is denied in discretion, Rodriguez must receive withholding of removal.

## Legal Principles

- “Political opinion” in asylum law is not limited to electoral or party politics and can include beliefs about gender equality; feminism may qualify as a political opinion.
- Nexus is satisfied when a protected ground is “one central reason” for persecution; mixed motives do not defeat eligibility if a protected ground is a central reason even alongside interpersonal or retaliatory motives.
- Where the record compels a contrary finding on an issue the BIA treated as dispositive, a reviewing court may remand solely for discretionary determinations while treating statutory eligibility (including withholding, if otherwise met) as established.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit held that Rodriguez’s feminist political opinion was a central reason for her gender-based persecution, rejected the BIA’s no-nexus determination as unsupported by substantial evidence, and remanded only for discretionary asylum while requiring withholding of removal if asylum is denied.


Rodriguez Tornes v. Garland, 993 F.3d 743 (9th Cir. 2021)